Edit: So this is the end. The Blue Pill is done and I'm glad to see it being played with as much as it is. I've created a few videos explaining some of the more interesting parts of the build. I'll keep updating this initial post with that information.

First is a CP installation video. I thought it would help explain the CP and box interface better. here's a link to the post:

If anyone has a request for more info on any of the build, shoot me a PM and I'll bust out the iPhone.

Without further adieu:

Here's the final update in video form. I just wanted to show the arcade live and give some kudos to some members who helped out on this one.

06/18/12

Been lurking on this site for almost 5 years watching and learning. I started building my arcade about 4 years ago. I got the control panel done and working and had to put it away for 3 years due to family medical issues (and the aweful bills they create). But, things have stabilized, so I've begun working on the main cabinet.

Anyway, here's some pics. I'll be asking some questions about decorating the inside (basically making the inside of it as interesting to geek out on as the outside)...so thanks in advance for all the help!!

This CP was built about 3-4 years ago. It's been hooked to the PC and monitor on my spare workbench for a few years. It's a Happ 3" trackball on an optipac, 21 Happ buttons, 2 Happ Competitions for 8-way and 1 Super for the 4 way...all on an i-Pac4. All parts are used except for the buttons and the art (mame marquees).Here it is in it's infancy:

The cab is basically a riff on just about every other standup....3/4 MDF...no outside screws... I don't own a table saw, so I'm very pleased that the entire thing from floor to top (70") only has about 1/8" runout at a couple of the intersections. I've learned a lot in this process. I guess 3 years worth of reading, collecting parts one at a time (due to fundage) and wishing I could proceed will do that.

Using all of the gift cards that Santa showed up with, I finally started the main cab a couple of weeks ago. I shortened my original plan by about 3 inches so my rugrats can play it. I lost 1" from the marquee area, and shortened the cab from the floor to the CP 2". I made the base capable of lifting in the future by adding to it if it ever needs it. The CP has about a 5 degree slope to it. As it sits, its right at the level most 80s arcades sit...about 35" at the front of the CP angling to 36" at the rear when it's installed. I like the play of machines with a slight slope. Especially for the trackball use.

I love my router. I'd marry my router if I didn't already have a wife. It's made not owning a table saw tolerable...

Test fitting the CP. I'm thinking I'm going to either redisign and rebuild the CP (it's 48x19) or re-skin it when I get my cab artwork and design finalized. I love the flag theme, but not for the entire cab.

Finalized the main construction. I'm so stealing knohbody's LCD installation technique ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=116253.0 ). I'll have that done this weekend. I have a 19" Dell LCD (I get them free from work) and I was tossing around the idea of using the VESA bracket mounted to a 3/4 x 4" ply bracket, but using the MDF as a bezel and mount is awesome!!

Despite the weird look of the pics, the cab is actually very square....holy ! The garages in Georgia have a slope built into them, so building on them is pretty difficult since it's not level. You have to pay particular attention to measurements and square. Even wen you take pics, the level/plumb stuff in the background makes it look all out of whack. But, I was EXTREMELY psyched when it call came together. It's my first woodworking project and my tools are based around my automotive and BMX/Bike hobbies.

Coin door is vintage and has been out in the weather for a long time...it came in from ebay yesterday. It's a Happ and I'll restore it as I go along. I restore 80's BMX bikes as my other hobby, so I've learned a thing or two about restoring old rusty metal parts to new. This thing is pretty rough, but I love turning old junk into cool stuff.

My functioning coin door is a takeoff from a Happ "Convertible Coin/Currency System" and didn't come with a frame, so I'm going to see if I can restore the original door with sticker indent and use these mechs and mounts. Otherwise, this entire door will bolt up to the old frame. All told, I have only about 35 bux into the entire kit, so I'm pretty happy. I'll be hooking it up to run in parallel to the coin buttons on the CP. I might also change the color of the returns, but I just got some truly bitchin automotive 5 SMT LEDs to change the coin door lights from 14V to 12V. They're really bright!

The holes in the speaker panel will be 4" Pyle dual 180W with the center hole dedicated to the audio controls. I tripped on a Rockit chair when I was digging around my office looking for PC speakers and realized I'd tripped on my answer. It was a gift about 6 years ago that's only been used by the kids to learn how to destroy stuff. It had a 2.1 channel amp in it with a small 5" woofer box and 2 2-way speakers...so I gutted it and pulled the amp/control assembly, wiring and subwoofer.

The amp attaches and will sit behind this in the middle hole:

I built a new subwoofer box to bury somewhere in the cab...I'll be replacing this speaker with a real Pyle unit to match the other speakers eventually.

It won't be powerful, but it will be good enough. I think It'll push about 80w. I bought the speakers mainly for their look.

The PC is a Dell GX260 with 512MB ram P4... Front end is currenly Mamewah 1.64 with SNES, Mame, Atari, N64 emus.

Thanks for reading this far and looking forward to learning from you guys. Oh, and if anyone knows where to get tempered glass in the Marietta, Ga. area, PM me.

Looks good. Just be careful about the sub inside the cab. Hard drives these days are super fine tuned with lots of lubrication but that lubrication breaks down over time. Especially when vibrations from a SUB in close proximity are rocking. I built a sub into two cabs, with their own enclosures etc. and both HDD's died within 1 year. Every other cab I've built has it's original HDD still rocking. Coincidence???!!!

Looks good. Just be careful about the sub inside the cab. Hard drives these days are super fine tuned with lots of lubrication but that lubrication breaks down over time. Especially when vibrations from a SUB in close proximity are rocking. I built a sub into two cabs, with their own enclosures etc. and both HDD's died within 1 year. Every other cab I've built has it's original HDD still rocking. Coincidence???!!!

H1N1 got into the house over the past week and a half...everyone but me got the plague. That meant not much in the way of progress. But, I did get a couple of small things done between the 4-hourly Childrens' Tylenol and Motrin feedings, trips to the store(s), and cooking.

I decided that the power for my LEDs, lighting and anything else 5V or 12V will come from an external power supply. Got a standard ATX type and started customizing. Painted the cover anodized-blue with Duplicolor Metalcast...

before:

after:

Also got the bezel/monitor mount cut and tested. Basically going on a riff of knohbody's bartop monitor install.

I hadn't planned on an admin panel...I'm planning on having those buttons on the CP.

Yeah, that's one of the key reasons...besides the size issue. I'd like to do something along the lines of the infamous Knievel CPs. Only, I can't seem to find reference measurements (If anyone knows a good source...LMK).

I've also determined that I will have to learn photoshop, or paintshop....I have some idea as to what I want the theme/art to look like and I'm not sure I have the budget to have someone to the art for me. I just hope it's not a long learning curve. I'm not a graphics person...although I have been in IT for over 20 years.

OK, just a quick update. I've been working on the art for over a week. Since I've never even really opened a graphics program, it was a HUGE learning curve. Thanks to WoLLiEnZ for guiding me in the right direction. I like being pointed in the right direction, given and example (his HEX artwork was FULL of awesome stuff to learn).

Anyway, I was able to get to Kinkos (FedEx Office) and have my template printed today. I thought it would be a good update that they are still doing large plotter printing in B&W for only $4.50 still. Yes, it's the standard issue Knievel CP template that I found somewhere on here. Just want to props for this.

On the way out, some idiot tried to start a fight with me because his wife almost hit my car when parking and he thought I "said something" to his wife. If my kid wasn't in my car, I'd be telling about how you shouldn't pick fights with people you don't know anything about, rather than how awesome cheap printing is...

I also found some creative uses for some spare crap I had lying around. Originally, I had gutted a pair of these:

Notice the shape of the feet. Mine were old and in the white plastic...which meant they were yellowing. So, after realizing that the amp that was in there wouldn't fit the bill and that the entire PCB was cracked from years of who knows what, I'd thrown out the entire kit...except for the metal that's buried in the feet to give them weight. I ran across these pieces and realized that the sunken and countersunk screw holes made the "bumps" the screws sit in exactly 1/8". Interesting that I needed a set of brackets that sat exactly 1/8" above my bezel plate to hold my LCD...

And, a piece of pre-routed MDF for the top mount. Interesting what you find in the bottom of your parts boxes when you're looking for something completely different.

Bezel with monitor. Still haven't figured out what art/bezel to use. I think I might just paint it or Knievel it and use some matt board from Michaels. I just need to paint the silver part of the frame with some flat black and violay!!

Like I said, my artwork is coming along nicely. It will have a Matrix theme but with a twist. Hope it meets the high standards I've seen on this site.

Thanks for reading this week's lame update. I'm hoping to have the cabinet filled, primed and painted this week before the storms roll in.

This is looking very nice. A few comments.1. If you got everything square and this is your first woodworking project, keep on doing what you're doing. I live in an area that doesn't have flat anything anywhere, and compensating for that while putting stuff together is no small feat.2. I really like the audio control pod set up. There are others here that will disagree because it's not authentically "arcade-like" but I think it's a great idea. But do be careful of the subwoofer. Does and arcade cabinet really need substantial base? It's going to be used in your home, no need to draw attention to it from 50 feet away.3. Please orient your joysticks as the others have suggested. Your brain has been reinforcing your hand eye coordination for as long as you've been alive, and other human brains have worked on this for thousands more years. Don't mess with a good thing.4. I love the American flag, but I'm not a fan of things that aren't flags looking like the American flag. The controls get lost in the stars and stripes. That's just me. I don't like my first CP because the artwork detracted from the controls rather than drawing attention to them.5. You do know that having a functioning control panel subconsciously added to the time it took to build your cabinet, right? Just kidding. Keep up the good work.

1.) Thanks. Yeah, it's pretty square. It's only about 1/8" out at the top where the marquee goes, but that will be covered. Basically, the speaker panel is about 1/8" higher on one side. I think that was a bad measurement/sloppy gluing on my part, though. I'm sure I'll be the only one to notice it.2.) Yeah, the audio controls are cool. The amp has very little power...probably 15W per side and maybe 10 for the sub. The sub is a 5" cone with tiny magnet, so...remember the sub was in a gaming chair, so it's pretty weak. If I do change the woofer, it will be for looks only. And, I really like the volume control there because most games have different volume levels..3.) In my last update, you can see my new layout. I'll be a standard-issue Knievel layout. 4.)The American flag is gone. I'm re-doing the entire CP...with new hardware, too. I'll probably use the joys and buttons on other projects. I plan on having lit buttons and ball-tops on this, so.. 5.) yep!

Thanks for the input. Here's how my art look so far...I've never used a graphics program before, so I think I'm off to an OK start (Thanks to WolliEnz)..and yeah...I'm sure the Matrix has been done to death... But I love this twist on it...

The sideart will be a riff on this...but I haven't decided if it will be in a circle inlay, like the Neon Mame, or if I'll just have it printed and put it on the cab (maybe a half wrap...from the CP to the top?)

Thanks Dervacumen. I like good, honest input. This is my first cab (I think I need to build a few now that the neighbors have seen it), so I'm exited!

This is looking very nice. A few comments.1. If you got everything square and this is your first woodworking project, keep on doing what you're doing. I live in an area that doesn't have flat anything anywhere, and compensating for that while putting stuff together is no small feat.2. I really like the audio control pod set up. There are others here that will disagree because it's not authentically "arcade-like" but I think it's a great idea. But do be careful of the subwoofer. Does and arcade cabinet really need substantial base? It's going to be used in your home, no need to draw attention to it from 50 feet away.3. Please orient your joysticks as the others have suggested. Your brain has been reinforcing your hand eye coordination for as long as you've been alive, and other human brains have worked on this for thousands more years. Don't mess with a good thing.4. I love the American flag, but I'm not a fan of things that aren't flags looking like the American flag. The controls get lost in the stars and stripes. That's just me. I don't like my first CP because the artwork detracted from the controls rather than drawing attention to them.5. You do know that having a functioning control panel subconsciously added to the time it took to build your cabinet, right? Just kidding. Keep up the good work.

Quick update. It's been pretty busy around here and funds are short. But, I did get some work in on the old coin door that I got off ebay for 5 bux.

This is how I bought it off ebay. It looks like an early to mid-80s IL/Happ unit. It had seem some weather and the bottom door had some rot in it.

I stripped it with Rustoleum Aircraft Stripper....magical stuff. And, then I did some work on the rust with the 6" brass wheel on the bench grinder. Hit the rust with this stuff:

It turns all the rust into a black ceramic-like material. It's pretty cool. Although it looks like spray-paint, it's not. It's a chemical...and it stains your fingers black (ask me how I know).

Next, I sanded it all with 100 grit paper. Got as much of the original paint off and hit it with some Rustoleum Hammered Black. I wish it was "blacker", but it looks really good.

Finally, I moved all the hardware over from my new-ish Happ "Convertible Coin Currency" door. Glad to see all the new-ish hardware works in this old door because I wanted to keep the sticker-recess that these old doors have.

Here's the donor. Incidentally, if anyone wants the door (and hinge), drop me a PM and $5 in my paypal and I'll ship it to the lower 48....

Here's the old girl with her new hardware...Pretty as you please. Chased the screw threads in the aluminum frame with taps and used anti-sieze so I can get the hinge screws out easier next time (had to soak them to free them up last time). Good tip for all you metal dudes...any time you're screwing unlike metal screws into something (such as Ti screws into steel, or steel screws into aluminum...or even aluminum screws into aluminum), always use a good copper-based anti-sieze.

Next...on to re-cutting the monitor mount. I basically want to re-do it without the routed edge on the front. I'm also going to recess the monitor in the back another 1/8" so that it's flush in the back and not as deep in the front...then the artwork (or mat board...I haven't decided) will look better.

I'll be priming the cab and painting the inside this week, too. I plan on wiring the inside next. That's my fun-zone.

Just another quickie. Had some hookie-time left at work, so I'll be taking a few days off here and there. While waiting for my paper route money to accumulate into enough to order art...I've been just getting the basics done.

Took the amp/control plate from the Rockit chair and plugged in the A/C hole and the input jack. Figured I'd leave the headphones in the off chance that someone will like that...

Patches made from the sprue of a model kit...

Should have used CA....the model glue was kinda funky and didn't allow the putty to stick very well...

Decided to go with the hammered look. I liked the off-black of the coin door and it is a Matrix theme... Here it's in its new home:

Happenstance being what it is...the amp/control had blue LEDs from the factory. So, the rings light up blue. I used Duplicolor Metalcast red on the knobs. I'm also weathering them right now so they have a more Nebuchadnezzar feel to it.

Still haven't decided on paint yet....so I just used some Kilz premium on it for now. I'm painting the inside black, I do know that..

Pretty puh-sycked. Ordered the art last night....although I didn't order sideart as I haven't had time/decided what direction to go with it yet.

Also, I have about 30 feet of black t-molding, but after seeing NEon Mame and others, I'm really grooving on the blue t-molding idea. dammit!!!

Black cab and t-molding? Ditch/sell the black t-molding and do a black cab/blue t-molding? Hmmm.

The cab has its obligatory 2 coats of Kilz on it. Now, if it would just dry!! It's been hot/humid down here for the last week and the primer is still a little tacky. I REALLY want to get the black on there.

I'm also going to try another approach to the inside of the cab. I'm going to use Duplicolor trunk paint. Its supposed to cover just about everything.

I'm going to use the black/gray color, though.

Outside will be Rustoleum Painter's Touch Ultracover. I was wondering if anyone has painted using the Rustoleum Countertop Coating? Looks like it's for painting over formica. It's 20 bux a quart, though.

Major hurtle cleared this weekend. I finally got the monitor mount sorted and built. It was a vicious fight...lots of cussing, screaming at the kids for interrupting me during higher fraction math and the realization that without a table saw, things like this can really take some planning.

Anywho...I wanted to be able to mount the monitor tempo-permanently so that I can remove it for upgrades/moving down the road. Also, it will need to be moved to the basement for final assembly and this will eliminate a giant headache.

So, without further ado, I decided on a little thing dad used to use to hang cabinets on the wall. Basically, you cut a single piece at an angle and one piece is attached to the permanent base (in this case the cabinet) and the other to the thing you want to mount. This is the first part of this entire build that I have actually put to paper. Most of it has just been build on the fly...

A cross-section of the joint....if you don't see it yet, you will..the dark shaded part is the monitor bezel (a blatent ripoff of knohbody's bartop) and the square/rectangle is the mount attached to the inside of the cab...

By creating a pocket in the mount, I can remove the entire bezel piece by lifting up and out. I mimicked the angle of the speaker panel so that the monitor bezel could just rotate out.

Here's the actual "cleats" of the system. One cleat will be permanently affixed across the inside of the cab, and the other cleat will be mounted to the monitor bezel. I used MDF because it's kinda "silky" on the cut ends and will provide a slippery surface.

I routed the end-plates 3/8 with the pocket shown in the above diagram. Here's it's being test fitted to the cab:

Of course gluing and screwing the ends of MDF always makes them split (as they did in this instance), so I shored up the entire thing with some hardwood 1x..

Now that I had the mechanism working, I "framed" up the monitor bezel by adding additional cleats to the surrounding cabinet sides and top. I also cut a piece as a "stop" at the top on the speaker mount that will accept either a CP latch

or a clicking magnetic door catch. I have a couple of these and they are the kind that you push in an they click and spring the door open. These dual ones have a good bit of punch...

Here's the inside magic. It's hard to make out, but the bottom shows the cleat that's attached to the monitor bezel captured by the angle of the permanent cleat in the routed bracket. This design also captures the entire cleat across the entire monitor bezel. On the right is the hardwood cleat anchored to the cabinet (the lighter piece) and the white part on the left is the actual back of the bezel (complete with sloppy primer)...

Here's how it sits in the cab. The red lines show how the thing gets removed from the cab for maintenance or moving..

I just need to shore up the back door (I did a really crappy job on that piece) and then I can move on to my favorite part...building and wiring the CP!!

I got the art in yesterday from GameOnGrafix and boy they are awesome. Better than I could have imagined. All of my art was crisp and clear and I thought I'd have some problem with the dropping Matrix text with all the different layers and shades. Boy was I wrong. You can see each layer perfectly and the "hidden" text jumps out with amazing glow....better than my monitor at work. For reference, they look like this:

I also just ordered a set of EI2 buttons from Randy. I'm pretty psyched to get the bulk of the CP done this weekend. ME=HAPPY!

OK. MAJOR update this weekend. I've had the art since mid-week...I've had the printed template for weeks....I've had the materials for over a week. What I didn't have was the stones to actually risk ruining all that stuff....until this weekend.

This is my first control panel done from artwork. It's also my first time using Photochop, my first time working with plexi and really, my first time really, REALLY cutting from a measured template. My last CP was a mess of whatever I built that day with little planning. So, this weekend, I pulled up my courage and just got down to it.

OK...typical 3/4" MDF with 1/4" chamfer using a 45 degree laminating bit I found in my router case when I bought it (from a pawn shop...long story). 1/8" plexi from the HD...45 degree chamfer on trackball and all 3 joysticks (bottom mounting...so it needed it).

First thing I did was I built an ad-hoc plexi trimming station out of a scrap piece of MDF and a nice 1x2 nailing strip...score the plexi on the right side of the strip using it as a straight edge, then slide it through and snap it off:

I recessed the trackball so it sits under the plexi/art:

These are the marks I used to create my Happ template (available for download!!)

And, the template I created:

Closeup of the chamfered joy hole:

Chamfered trackball hole (I had to peel back the cellophane):

Bottom view with a couple of buttons screwed in to hold it together and bottom of trackball mount. I free-hand routed the joy mounts, so don't laugh. Joys are 2x Happ Competition 8ways and 1x Happ Super 4way. They will eventually have GGG versaball 2s on them.

Here is the top. The cellophane makes the thing look like I cut it with a lawnmower, but the edges are smooth and crisp...

And, I got to clean up my workbench...yeah, that's clean

Thanks for reading. And, if you want to download the trackball mount, see this thread:

After having measurement issues with the original Kneivel CP and box, I designed a box with a bump to accomodate my TB and everything else. I think it came out pretty well. Joints will get glued and rounded to better match the CP top. Screw holes filled, joints caulked and then I'm painting the inside of the box with Duplicolor Spatter Paint for trunks.

The base will be located using some dowel pins that I made. They are not permanent and only serve to locate the CP box on the cabinet. CP box will be clamped to the CP using some Happ latches.

Here it is with the CP layed on it. I'll probably use the dowel-pin trick to locate the CP top as well. I'll soften the edges once the putty is on and dried (for the holes and any joints). That will make the front seem more "rounded".

Oh, and PAINT!! I got the inside finished with 2 coats and the outside with the first 2 coats. Once it's moved closer to its new home, it will get its final coat. I can't say enough good things about the Rustoleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover. Its almost like a gel, it's so thick. But, man! Does it cover and dry nice and smooth.

Here's an update to the rounded CP franken-box. Box with a bump! (schmoke and a pancake? bong and a blintz?).

Before:

After.

Now it's time for wiring!! I'm still waiting on RandyT to build all the PCBs for my EI2 buttons (thanks Randy!!) and some other stuff, so I'm in a hurry-up-and-wait state right now.

So...on to another update. This one is potentially the most important to me.

There are certain times in a person's life when it's finally OK to breathe. This is one of those times.

So, without further adeiu...I give you The Blue Pill control panel:

This is what happens when I find an un-opened box on my workbench when I come home from work. Once the kids were settled, I went to work. Nervous...scared almost. Will it come together? Will it look totally hack? Have I ruined $$ worth of art and wood and plexi...not to mention the hours I've spent breathing in toxic MDF dust and blowing it all over the driveway and neighbor's car? (well, OK...that part is cool!)Will passers-by get shown the cabinet and nod with a less than enthusiastic "that's nice"?

Well, I'm happy to say....NOT THIS TIME BIZNITCHNEY!! I'm a proud papa all over again! Now on to my favorite...and less stressful part of this project...WIRING! I should have the CP wired by weeks end. I'm still tossing around the idea of de-casing my Dell Optiplex GX260, or just leave it a PC and be done with it. Any opinions would be great!

Thank you very much to RandyT for fast shipping of my 16 EI2 buttons and RGB-Drives. If you haven't seen the new RGB-Drives with the 24" leads...be prepared to be impressed. It's basically a 4 wire ribbon cable with the + marked in red. Here's a pic:

Wow. I appreciate all the encouragement. This was the most nerve wracking part...first time using an art program (photochop), first time doing anything from a measured drawing (other than a couple of things I drew on napkins), and first time working with plexi.

It's also the first time I've really used a router, forstner bits, and a couple of other tools and I've learned a lot about living without a table saw and what all you can use for a straight edge.

Don't get me wrong...I build bicycle wheels, repair air and oil suspension forks, build fences, do all my own automotive work...when I don't need a lift. But, something about making what amounts to furniture, seems to be more difficult since it's on display.

I wanted to show the handiwork of gameongrafix a little better. I finally got a shot without the white glaring out the text on the art...

Here's what the titles look like on the background:

And, this one really shows the complexity of the falling "Matrix" text. There's 4 or 5 layers of text in there in different opacities and sizes and they are all legible. It's truly amazing..and I love the way plexi makes the CP look:

They were 6 bux a pop or so and they were in the tilt-out bins. Oh, and I had to dig...apparently, the dudes who stock these things don't really pay any attention to what they are putting in the bins. The first half of the bin was full of hinges NOT shown on the outside of the bin. So much for good help.

As for strength, I wouldn't let my kids hang off it, but it seems pretty sturdy for now. Once I have all the wiring and encoders in place, I'm going to put a chain to limit the travel. I'm pretty sure the MDF will split before these hinges break.

I worked until about 2AM today...but, it's finally done. I just hope it all works.

I got the LED wiring done on Thursday night after agonizing over how to do it in preparation of getting an LEDWiz. RandyT suggested that I use some euro terminal blocks as a header and jump the same-colored leads since I wanted to use only blue before I can control the lighting. It was an excellent suggestion. Initially, I thought it was going to me messy. I planned to cover up the headers and wires with some sort of sheild. But, as I moved over to the second header, I hit my stride and it began to coelesce. Once the second header was done, I re-visited the first header and cut some of the slack out of the leads and it turned out OK.. So after a couple failed attempts at covering it up:

I decided just to bundle everything up with black zip-ties and leave it exposed. I think it looks better:

Here is the underside with power:

Next, on to the control wiring. I was sweating the load on this one. How in the hell was I gonna put the wires for the controls and LEDs in the same bundles? It's gonna look like monkey-butt. When I was researching CPs on here, Knievel suggested buying doorbell wire...which is solid core. As I started working with it, I realized how rigid the wire was...and after looking at Knievel's completed woody post ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55789.0 ), I decided that wiring should be fun...should be seen....should have many colors....and SHOULD BE IN 3D!!! Certain things in this world should be filled with folly and fun! So, I give you The Blue Pill Wiring!!

So, I ditched the bland blue wire and dug out my colored zip-ties!!

Here's the beginning of the control leads. I made them yellow for visual impact and GGG red connectors helped! Each wiring "loop" would be at its own, native level:

A bit more progress on the ( + ) leads:

( + ) leads completed overhead shot:

Here's a view with the ( - ) leads in place. I made them red to contrast the yellow. I think it looks like a circus!! Notice the yellow leads coming out of the iPac. After connecting, I thought it would be cool to make the yellow ( + ) wires come out of the iPac like headers.

Here's the completed overhead shot. I want my cab to be interesting inside, too. I think this splash of color is just what the doctor ordered. I went through about 50 small blue zip-ties.:

Here it is mounted in the cab. I have 3 USB wires wrapped waiting to exit the CP box. One is the iPac, one is the OptiPac and one is a hacked USB cable that is attached to the header that powers the LEDs.:

It was a couple of late nights, but I'm pretty happy with the results. The solid core wire is paramount to doing the multi-level wiring. So, the LED wiring rests on the surface of the CP held with self-adhesive wiring squares and zip ties, then the yellow ( + ) wires follow the same circuits, only about 1.75" above, and then the ( - ) wires ride on top.

The only thing left for control wiring is to run the wires up from the coin-door..and I have some ideas for that, too.

Thanks. I only hope this one is good enough to pay homage to the greats like the Knievel cabs and a couple of others that I'll mention in the final build. My wife and friends thing I'm nutz since all this stuff will be covered up.

I'll be going with an industrial look inside the cab, too. It's these details that will make *me* happy with the build. I probably get it from building bike wheels. As a wheel builder, you can really appreciate all the nuance in a well-built wheel, where others just see some metal holding a tire.